The Black Lily
by Rody One-Half
Summary: She who bears guilt, she who carries life. At the height of the Black Rebellion, Liliana vi Britannia is forced to set her priorities in order.
1. Chapter 1

It had been a bad 2 months for the girl called, variously, Liliana Lamperouge (Lily), Liliana vi Britannia, and Zero The Man of Miracles, and it perhaps said quite a lot that finding out she was expecting was the least of it.

Firstly, the REASON she was pregnant, beyond the obvious. It's troublesome enough to be running a burgeoning rebellion against an empire that rules a third of the world without also managing, in a wine fueled haze _thank you so much Milly Ashford_, to screw your half sister's boyfriend_ one of the primere soldiers of said Empire_.

Second, that precise half-sister, the Now-Late Third Princess Euphemia Li Britannia, nearly did what her elder sister Cornelia couldn't do with all the military might of the Imperial Colonial Forces couldn't. Through sheer, utter naivete Euphemia had offered a way free forward, reforms she believed would break the colonial class barrier of the Numbers system and allow the Elevens to be Japanese again. Lily saw this for the poison pill that it was, but Euphemia believed it and so did many of the Japanese that formed Lily's, Zero's, rebel army. If the terrorist sister didn't join hands with her still royal sibling, morale would collapse, while accepting the offer surrendered momentum. In the end, Lily agreed to aid her sister. The sister she had already betrayed once...

...And would betray again, leading to the next and greatest weight on the revolutionary's soul: the Special Administrated Zone Massacre. Careless words from Lily's own mouth, along with the devilish power granted to her by the witch C.C. had led to the gentle Euphemia leading a genocide against her own will. A genocide Lily was forced to stop by killing (another) sibling. A sibling whose brainwashing and death she would go on to exploit.

Exploiting genocide, betrayal, and kinslaying turned out to be wonderfully effective. Lily's Order of the Black Knights and the Six Houses of Kyoto raised their banners and declared independence, with countless flocking to the cause across the Japanese Archipelago. They fell upon the heavily fortified Britannian occupied Tokyo and quite literally destroyed it from the foundations. Lily had even captured the elder Cornelia, Imperial Viceroy, and extracted from her much desired answers... though they only raised more questions themselves.

And now... And NOW...

"What do you MEAN Nunally's been taken?" she growled at her erstwhile companion.

The immortal witch replied simply, "She's being taken to Kamine," without further elaboration.

The teen terrorist rushed back to the cockpit of her gigantic knightmare, the Gawain, and roared into the voice distorting communication system. "Ashford Command, where is Ougi?! Come in Ashford Command!"

After a second of static, a reply came, "This is Ashford Command, Zero, Lt. Commander Ougi's been shot sir."

"WHAT? By WHO?"

"Unknown sir, but primary suspect is a Britannian woman who we found on-site. He met with her and dismissed his guards. He's stable but out of commission now."

I am hearing far too much about guards being dismissed today, the girl thought bitterly. "What about the captured school children?"

"...All the kids escaped while we were aiding the Lt. Commander sir."

"YOU LOST A BLIND GIRL IN A WHEELCHAIR?"

"S-sir, it's chaos over here, we need someone on site."

Lily's world stood still. _Nunally was taken and my command is falling. But I have Cornelia... But I can't let Nunnally go, or what was this for? But I can't let this fail or what did Euphie die for?_ A thousand 'Buts' clashed in the span of a second, until finally she laid her hand on her stomach. _But... I have to finish what I started._

After informing command post she'd arrive soon, Viceroy in tow, she turned to C.C. "Help me gather up Cornelia, we're securing the city."

The green haired woman rarely was surprised, and less rarely showed it, but her eyes turned to saucers at that. "You're giving up on Nunnally?"

"_Never_," came the hissed reply. "But I'll be best situated to do something about this when we've secured ourselves a country. Now, get out and-"L never got further, as at that point a tremendous presence made itself known, that of the Knight Giga Fortress Siegfried. Theirs would be, in the end, the last great battle of the day.

-

Super weapons rose, buildings fell, losses accumulated, retreats and captures were made on both sides, but all of it, everything from the massacre at the SAZ, to the flocking of hundreds of thousands of fighters from countless resistance cells to the banner of the Masked Man, to the destruction and occupation of the Tokyo Settlement, to the negotiated ceasefire between Zero and the Chancellor and Second Prince Schneizel and withdrawal of Brit forces via Osaka, and finally the formal declaration of the Japanese Free State by the Black Knights would be recorded in history as the Black Rebellion.

But it was only the beginning of the true bloodshed.

butasdfasdf


	2. Chapter 2

**Tokyo - 24 Hours After Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement**

**Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Order of the Black Knights, Acting Government of the Japanese Free State**

Lily had to admit to herself that between this having been by a wide margin the most stressful week of her entire life, the complete lack of sleep, and the miracle of life churning inside her, conspiring to stuff hair that went past her shoulder into a full face helmet and locking herself in a meeting room for who knows how long wasn't a great way not to drown in her own vomit.

Fortunately she didn't plan on wearing the helmet much longer.

For now, she entered the meeting room, situated in a local government building selected for a mix of its proximity to the destroyed Viceroy's palace (which had teams assigned to excavation around the clock for records retrieval) and for its relative lack of rubble. It was, for the moment, empty save for one individual: Taizo Kirihara, head of the Six Houses and richest man in Japan. In theory, Kirihara was the most powerful person still on the islands besides Lily herself. More importantly, he was the only one in the entire alliance besides C.C. who knew lay behind the mask of Zero.

As the store slid shut behind her, she took her seat at the far end of the table, facing the door and putting Kirihara on her left side. This, apparently, was taken as an invitation to talk by the old man. "For one so young, I can see in your gait and posture a weariness far too similar to my own."

"Is this to be a heart to heart, Kirihara?" a digitally produced, masculine voice replied.

The old man's wheezing laughter preceded his reply, "as much as you wish it to be I suppose. Have you anyone else to share your burdens with? That green haired shadow of yours perhaps, or your Ace?"

"C.C. is in some ways an even worse companion than you, Lord Kirihara. Kallen... isn't privy to certain details..." the girl was silent for a moment, then continued. "Actually, that will be one thing covered in this meeting when all others join us."

The industrialist couldn't hide his surprise, "You mean to..."

"Yes. Now that we've reached this stage, our next step is going to involve both the proper incorporation the of many disparate armed groups who joined us on the march or made their own moves around the country AND the actual business of running a government. This is going to require much restructuring and, much as I am loathe to admit it, I will no longer be able to manage all the details myself. To that end... well the time has come to grant the inner circle more trust." Her face was concealed by the helmet of course, but Kirihara could tell she was staring right in his eye now. "I may need you to offer your support when I take this mask off."

Kirihara nodded, "Of course. Though, from the group you've brought in I see little objections." He recalled the specific list of attendees, "Our chief researcher won't care so long as you remember our friends in the subcontinent. Todoh will recall you just as I do. Your reporter friend obviously wouldn't have an objections, as most he could raise would apply to him as well. Lady Kaguya might be... _disappointed_ I imagine, but will follow my lead even if she does have any doubts (which I don't think she will). Really the only questions hang over your ace and this agent of Mr Reid's you've asked to be brought in."

Lily waved her hand dismissively, "The latter I am if anything less concerned about than even Todoh or Rakshata. I'm personally familiar with her, though I am... displeased that Diethard didn't see fit to tell me about her."

"As you said, you can't manage everything yourself. Intelligence operations in particular are only going to become a more enormous affair." Lily gave a rather inelegant 'hmph,' acknowledging the point. "More importantly," the old man continued, "I am curious: why was your second excluded from the list? I also must, though I imagine I know why, ask after the remainder of my Kyoto colleagues."

"Because I don't trust the other four as I do you and Kaguya," Lily replied, confirming Kirihara's suspicions. "I am familiar with you and feel I've a grasp on Lady Kaguya's character. Besides which, you two outrank them, it's redundant. As for Ohgi, had you not heard? He was shot during the battle."

"The soldiers see little reason to update a coin counter like me without particular pressure, despite my having fed and clothed many of them for so long," the old man said in mock offense, "but I am informed enough to know he should have been well behind the main battle lines."

"There was a... spy of sorts, in our commandeered command center it seems. The details remain somewhat unclear, especially when our Mr. Ohgi himself fades in and our of a hazy consciousness. He is expected to make a full recovery but... well we'll go over the details in the meeting. Diethard has been following up on the matter."

"As you will... and what of you Zero?"

"What about me?"

"We both know that the past few days have become quite... personal for you."

"I... didn't do anything I haven't been doing since the day I killed Clovis. Let it lie, I'm sure it'll come up from at least one of them anyway."

Eventually, the rest off the summoned parties arrived and took their seats (along with C.C, who was not technically invited but none were surprised to see her appear). Lily took in what was to be her inner circle: a 14 year old girl, an aged mining tycoon, a maid (who apparently was a ninja), a military officer, his classmate, an Indian scientist, a reporter, and a witch. "Mottley" was hardly sufficient, and yet here they were, in charge of an entire country, a vast military force, and nearly three quarters of the world's supply of the most militarily valuable mineral on the planet.

"It is time," she said, "to both pool our collective knowledge on the current state of affairs and to properly organize our acting government. To start things off, welcome to the group Ms Sayoko Shinozaki, who Director Reid has brought to the table to handle, among other things, VIP security organization.

"I thought the Shinozakis were gone, it is heartening to see otherwise," Kirihara gave a solemn nod of greeting.

Sayoko smiled sadly and replied, "Sadly Lord Kirihara, your information is mostly correct. While I have a few relatives remaining, hidden throughout our country, I am the only remaining proper master of the school. Still, it is an honor that the clan, such as it is, can help our people stand tall again."

"Second," the masked girl continued, "all will of course note the absence of Lt. Commander Kaname Ougi. Diethard, if you would?"

Diethard Reid, the Chief Intelligence Director of the Black Knights, nodded and began to read from a report on his tablet. "As some might be aware, the Lt Commander was stationed at our on-site command post in Ashford Academy during the battle, but was injured. Some of the details of this remain unclear due to his current condition: he is stable, but essentially kept sedated. His few moments of consciousness have provided garbled testimony at best. However, from the testimony of his guards, previous intelligence, and personal effects we confiscated from his Tokyo residence as part of the investigation, we've constructed a likely scenario." The former reporter made a few inputs on the pad and projection was displayed on wall opposite Lily's own position, allowing all to see a dossier of a female Britannian officer.

"Wait a minute, confiscated?" Kallen interjected with surprise (and not a little indignance), "I thought you were supposed to be finding out why he was injured, not running a court martial."

"It is quite possible, Captain Kouzuki," Diethard continued without missing a beat, "that we will be doing both. You see, the only coherent testimony extracted from the Lt. Commander, is that he 'found an officer.' Descriptions from the guards he dismissed of the woman he was left alone with, the most likely culprit in his incapacitation, describe a dark skinned Britannian woman with silver hair. Obviously this could be an number of individuals, but from my own dealings in my former work with the military in Area 11, one obvious candidate sprung to mind. This is the knight Villetta Nu, formerly of Jeremiah Gottwald's defunct Purist Faction. She was listed as a Missing Person not long after the battle of Narita." The man made a few more inputs on his pad, "however, we appear to have found where she went thereafter."

The next images on the screen were a collection of photos of what was clearly the same woman, but in an entirely different light. Gone was the large ponytail, permanent scowl, military uniform, replaced by loose locks, a loving smile, and various decidedly domestic outfits. "These images were taken variously from the Lt Commander's phone and laptop. The timestamps line up with when Knight Nu went missing, and of course seem to be of, at minimum, her twin. Acting on the reasonable assumption that this is in fact her, there are a few scenarios we can consider. It's possible that she was spying on him, but Ougi was privy to vast amounts of intel as second in command, and we never seemed to experience any real exposure from that. Additionally, if they knew to spy on the Lt Commander they could have just as easily taken him, and a relatively well known Knight would make a poor spy anyway, especially for what other photos not shown here demonstrate was very much a, ahem, 'round the clock' operation. No, I believe the Lt Commander was fully aware of who she was, given he mentioned an officer. Further, he says he "found" said officer. Obviously the testimony of a half-conscious man isn't much to go on and he will need to be properly questioned when he recovers, but as it stands it seems suspicious enough that I recommend temporary suspension until this matter is settled."

Kallen looked torn between being offended for the man who was like an adopted brother and irritated because Diethard was at least clearly right about the situation being suspicious. Lily was far less torn, "Agreed Director, however at the moment we don't need to issue anything formal. He'll need an acting replacement anyway due to his condition, and it'd be bad for morale if our second in command was suddenly under full investigation. Your teams have been quiet in their movements, yes?"

"For the investigation, yes. However we were prepping to add her to the wanted list. I recommend she be placed right under our missing Viceroy, with your permission. At minimum this is almost certainly a woman who nearly killed our Lt Commander."

"Permission granted. Any other critical reports, Director Reid?" The reporter shook his head. "Very well. In that case, Todoh, you shall temporarily have to assume his duties as Acting Lt Commander. Which, to be honest, you would have been doing a fair amount of anyway if I'm being honest, since I've decided in the new acting government you will be properly Minister of War. Your first priority is to reach out to the other regions, as well as our allies on-site, and begin formally organizing all of them into a proper chain of command under you. I'm giving you, more or less, a free hand on how this is to be done, with one exception." Lily gestured to Kallen, "Captain Kouzuki and her Zero squad will, of course, continue to report to me directly and exclusively." Both soldiers nodded, with the elder of the two opening his laptop and immediately setting to work on some preliminary ideas for the new command structure. Then, Lily thought for a moment, and added, "Well actually, I suppose I misspoke. That is to be your first OVERARCHING priority. Your first IMMEDIATE priority of course remains the hunt for Cornelia." Lily cursed Jeremiah once again for his interruption. Of course, speaking of Jeremiah... she turned to Rakshata Chawla. "Next, Rakshata: how goes the orange farming?

The head of Black Knights Research and Development blew a smoke ring from her pipe into the hair, causing Lily to flinch, a reaction thankfully hidden by her mask. Less helped by it was the churning feeling in her stomach. "We've finished cutting open what remains of that crazy Knightmare of his, and we managed to pull him out. Not, I should note, terribly easy. Seems that whatever lab he was stuffed into, it replaced half of him with cybernetics so advanced I couldn't have dreamed of them when I was working on med tech Colchester. We've got him locked up as tight as possible. I'd like to get a closer look, but we're prioritizing salvaging the knightmare first. On top of all the repair work we're having to do, of course.

Lily nodded. That was really the only major report she needed from R&D. "It's a formality more than anything, as your duties aren't changing anytime soon, but I'm appointing you Minister of Science and Technology for the Free State."

The woman pouted a bit and rolled her pipe around, "Sound like more paperwork and less knightmares..."

Lily ignored this and continued to the (second) oldest member of the gathering. "Lord Kirihara, you will of course be Minister of Finance, with Lady Kaguya serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Minister Kirihara, I'll trust you to find suitable places for your four Kyoto colleagues, there is much rebuilding to be done. Minister Sumeragi, last we spoke I asked you to put out feelers for recognition. Have we any takers so far?"

The young girl shook her head, "Thus far the only response we've gotten is from Luoyang, who are withholding official recognition, but _are_ interested in further contact."

Lily nodded, "That will suffice for the moment, I have some specific offers in mind for the High Eunuchs that you and I will discuss at a later time. Second to last item on the agenda: Minister Todoh, how goes the Britannian withdrawal?"

"It appears more or less ordinary nationwide. As agreed with the Chancellor, the military forces are pulling out as soon as possible, most on the mainland making for Osaka, others simply departing by whatever means are nearest. Current estimates suggest they're making for the Philippines. Of course, civilians are another matter entirely. Ghetto and Settlement populations are still rioting frequently across the country, despite our local allies trying to stop it... or because they're not trying, or participating in it, depending on the case. Nobles and businessmen are, of course, fleeing in droves... if I may suggest, this is oddly timid for Prince Schneizel's reputation. it seems less a ceasefire and more an armistice.

Black gloved fingers droved on the table in thought for a moment, processing this. After a moment, the masked head was shaken, "No, this matches Schneizel. I agree that the Philippines is the most likely destination, but while I'm certain we won't see him for awhile, there will be no armistice. Nevermind that the Emperor would never approve of such a measure, Schneizel is withdrawing not because he think the situation is untenable, but because it's too chaotic to deal with _efficiently_. Schneizel likes a relatively neat playing field, and the current state of Japan is anything but. It's too messy for him to engage with as he likes. He'll have the Colonial Forces like their wounds for awhile, observe as the dust settle, then bring them back along with as much of the main army as can be pulled from the Atlantic Front once there's a neater picture of what he'll be dealing with. Our job, thus, is to fortify ourselves in preparation for that. First step, your restructuring duty." The new Minister of War processed this, then silently nodded.

Silence filled the room again, this time for almost a minute, as the small group watched their normally firm and decisive leader... stare at (as near as they could tell), 'his' own lap. Finally, Kirihara spoke up, knowing full well what the wait was about. "And the last item on the agenda, Zero?" he prompted.

None of the others could remember ever hearing Zero audibly sigh before, "Yes. The last matter," gloved hands swept over the table as a pair, gesturing at all those seated. "Those of you gathered here, are gathered not only for your talent, but more importantly for your trustworthiness. You have either never failed to deliver, or I have such high expectations that I feel secure in not doubting you. There will be other ministers to fill vacant posts, other military commanders put in different ranks, others with deep pockets to fill our coffers with. But those of your here are, for the foreseeable future, going to be the true rulers of Japan and their most trusted protectors. In you, as our task expands in scope, I place my absolute trust." A shiver ran through the room, as those not already in the knew suddenly realized where this was going, and then saw their suspicions confirmed as one gloved hand snapped up and grasped the mask that had cast a spell on the entire world.

There was a small but audible click, as the audience watched in absolute silence, and then several more clicks as the back of the mask folded up, and the Man of Mystery removed it from his head... causing a fairly ridiculous amount of raven black hair to tumble down, which was quickly brushed into order and revealed deep violet eyes and a black facemask, quickly pulled down.

"...LILY?" screeched Kallen, causing Todoh, seated next to her, to wince a bit, at the noise, though not enough to stop the memories of an intensely bitter young girl from flooding back. At the same time, Kaguya's jaw dropped (and her eyes did as well, towards Zero's chest), Sayoko let out a small "oh, my..." and Rakshata simply raised an eyebrow in surprise. Lily noted that Diethard simply had a small smile, confirming her minor suspicion that he had, at least, figured out her civilian identity at some point.

"Lord Kirihara," Todoh intoned, his tone sharp and serious, "you knew, if I recall?"

"I did. When I met the Black Knights to about offering funds, she showed me her face. I told them that there was no more inveterate enemy to Pendragon. Can you disagree?"

The former Colonel frowned, but could hardly argue the point. This, of course, caused Kallen even more confusion, as she remembered Kirihara's change in attitude from that meeting and added Todoh's reaction with it. "Wait, no, hang on, she's... she's the Student Council VP at my stupid Britannian rich kid school, how... how do the head of Kyoto and Todoh of Miracles know her!?" It was confusion more than anger (was that steam coming out of her ears?), but still, required some response to prevent escalation.

"7 years ago, before the outbreak of the 2nd Pacific War," Lily began, quietly, "There was a murder in the Imperial Palace in Pendragon. Knight of 6 and Imperial Consort Marianne Vi Britannia, oft scorned for her former commoner status, was killed in her own home. Her children were orphaned. One was merely embittered, but the other was left blind, and her legs were shredded by the same bullets that cut down her mother. Seeking justice for her mother and sister, the elder of the children confronted the Emperor in his court.

A mistake, to say the least.

The Emperor stripped both children of their status for the affront, and offered them to Japanese Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi as political hostages... but that was just a ruse to get Kururugi drop his guard. The shrine where those hostages were kept was the very first thing targeted. The siblings, along with the minister's son, were forced to flee out into the warzone enveloping across Kyushu. The elder girl and the boy took turns carrying the young girl, of course. Through mountains of corpses, burning fields, as far as was needed they went. "

The speech was delivered utterly dispassionately, a complete opposite of the flamboyant speeches of the mask... but this was a facade itself, and a clear one.

"Hatred built in the older sibling. Hatred for her father. Hatred for the Empire. For Imperialism itself. For the Social Darwinism that held up both. She had, admittedly, no particular attachment to Japan beyond the boy who walked beside her and the happenstance that left her there, but her hatred of what was happening to it, of the perpetrators of it, was all too real." The girl leaned back in the chair, now looking at the ceiling.

"Zero, Man of Miracles, was not born when he destroyed the sham that was the Pureblood's Funeral and Trial Parade. Nor was he born when the girl, not even wearing her mask, shot the half brother she once loved on his throne. He was born 7 years ago, looking at what the current, rotten world created, looking upon the after effects of a bombing run.

Does that answer... any questions?"

Nobody, not even the hotblooded redhead or self assured princess, has a response to that. At least, not a verbal one. Diethard's grin had become somewhat... manic... ah but there was one after all, and of course it was... "Very dramatic, excellent delivery," C.C. shattered the mood completely, "I think that handles the objections quite neatly. But you said it was the last topic. You're forgetting another one: your condition."

Lily's right eye twitched. That was very deliberately not on the agenda for today. Until now, of course, "Oh?" Rakshata turned to C.C? "What condition? She's not terminal or something so dire as that, surely?"

"**No**," Lily denied, more strongly than she meant to. She felt her cheeks burn just a tad at the undignified response, and also at the subject in general. "It's... not an immediate concern, but over the next roughly 7 months it will become less and less... tenable for me to be seen in public as Zero. C.C. will have to take up the role, at least for the body. Rakshata you'll need to design a remote trans-"

"Oh." Todoh said simply, it clicking in his mind.

Kallen and Kaguya had more extreme, opposite reactions, both standing up and slamming the table. "**Wait you're-?" **"Oh Lady Zero, how lovely!"

"It's not _lovely_," she snapped. This was it, the dignity of Zero, going down the drain for what was supposed to be her most trustworthy aides. Out of the corner of one eye she could see Diethard tapping furiously at his pad, making notes of some kind, while Kirihara was partaking that particular old man's joy of watching young people entire a state of panic (C.C. was of course, partaking in the exact same). "It's _wildly_ inconvenient while we're supposed to be fighting a **war**."

"Easy enough to fix," Rakshata pointed out, "Heck, we can go do it right now." The glare she received for this was probably supposed to cow her but was rather undercut by Kaguya standing next to Lily making the exact same glare, like a tiger and a kitten acting in sync. Also undercutting the attempt at fear and majesty was Kallen, opposite Rakshata, having some kind of muttering meltdown, her face totally red as a stream of "girlpregnantzeromewhatgayWHO" came out of her mouth.

Lily took a deep breath and schooled her face, "Look. I've already planned on how to deal with it, and can easily arrange for C.C. to fulfil what few duties I'll truly need to handle in person when it gets to be too noticeable. It's certainly not an issue at the moment beyond the occasional sickness or dizziness."

"Ah, it's not a problem, except when it is," C.C. added, though Lily ignored her.

"Today's meeting is adjourned," the new (acting) Prime Minister quickly said, shoving her mask back on. "Return to your duties, all of you." And return they did, at various speeds at varying moods, Kitihara looking like he'd just seen a great show, Kallen still mumbling to herself, Sayoko simply vanishing from her chair, and so on, save Rakshata (and C.C). "...Minister Chawla, was there something else?"

The Indian woman glanced behind her, checking that the door was closed, then turned back, starting to play with her pipe a bit. "You know, I love my Knightmares. They're my children... but like I said, they're not what I got into the job for. Med tech's where I started." Her look became uncommonly serious as she pointed her pipe straight at Zero's stomach. "YOU, Miss Boss Man, have been running around for days, on god knows how little sleep and eating and drinking who knows what. Which, hey, we're at war, I get it. You've got to get in your cockpit and deal with the shaking, the smoke, the debris, you do what you have to do. But part of doing what you have to do when the fight is over-"

"The fight is never-"

"-_is get examined properly, and rest properly_." Chawla continued. "You were, moments ago, quite adamant about keeping your kid. That means, not matter what insane, work-a-holic genius you clearly are to throw on a costume and successfully fight superpowers, you need to take care of yourself. And the start of that means you and me are going to leave and go get you looked at properly." The masked girl found herself right where her ace had been not long ago, torn between irritation (though here over being challenged) and accepting a perfectly logical point.

"My identity-"

"Please," the older woman waved her hand dismissively. "I'm, I assure you, overqualified to do the examination myself. Any samples I need checked out can have fake names slapped on them no problem."

It was a distinctly odd feeling, Lily thought, to bloody an empire and then lose an argument over getting a checkup.


	3. Chapter 3

There were, obviously, many idiosyncrises to Liliana vi Britannia. Many were wildly uncommon in those her age, or of any age for that matter. These, for those aware of her various identities, were obvious: she was a teenager who created a fusion of a superhero and a revolutionary dictator, inhabited the role, and expelled a superpower from one of its key colonial holdings. She had killed, both personally and by command, more people than many seasoned military officers. She was prone to ridiculous theatrics, even when not playing the role of masked hero.

However, she also had many traits that were quite common among her peers. She'd never admit it openly, but she did take quite a bit of pride in her appearance, even if she spent more time primping and dressing her sister than herself. She was particularly proud of her hair, a gift from her mother (though one that took quite a bit of maintenance). She enjoyed sweets and hanging around with her school friends, even if they would annoy her as often as not. She even, though she'd doubly never admit this, enjoyed the brief, hazy rendezvous that resulted in her present condition.

One aspect of her personality however was most common in those much younger than her: she actually quite loathed doctors. Not out of any sort of skepticism or disrespect for the medical profession, but simply because a lifetime of assorted traumas had left her recoiling at the sort of vulnerability inherent in any thorough examination. She'd rather be at gunpoint than faced with a needle, at least the former was fairly reliably classed as hostile in intent. Her logical mind allowed her to suppress this aversion as needed... normally. As Liliana Lamperouge, merely 7 months ago, when the world knew nothing of a man called Zero, she'd have done so without a fuss. Even after the revolutionary's debut, that civilian identity had continued to operate as normally as possible.

But now there'd be no time for that face, and now rather than a high schooler whose last trip had been a deeply humiliating trip to an OBGYN, she was a secret Head of State getting poked and prodded by her nominal subordinate in the medical wing of her own headquarters. The latter was, in every way, harder to deal with. She hissed a bit as Rakshata took some blood, "I should have never taken off that damn mask."

"Oh calm down Miss Boss Man," the older woman replied nonchalantly, "as you yourself admitted, you'd have to start withdrawing to deal it eventually, and you're going to have to start delegating." She pulled back the needle after collecting enough of a sample to satisfy her.

"Nonetheless," the girl replied with a haughty huff, "despite all the results I've delivered, I took that mask off and immediately I note you've ceased to show any respect to me as-"

Rakshata cut her off, "Quite the contrary, I am all the more impressed with you than ever before," she said, as she placed the vial in her phlebotomy tray. "You're what, 17? Not every day a high schooler creates and crushes armies. I merely consider respect as a subordinate separate from my responsibility as a physician."

"Becoming a weapons designer seems rather counter to the oath."

"Oh let's not get personal, not like we both don't have blood on her hands." She fished into a cabinet and pulled out a jar, handing it over to Lily.

"Wait, no, I know for a fact this isn't nece-"

"No, it's not necessary at this stage. But I don't have access to any of your medical records at the moment and want as much data as possible. Forget staying healthy for two, do remember you need to stay healthy for a hundred twenty million here on the islands, nevermind the countless others on the continent for when the time comes to free them from the Chinese yoke."

Japan's new leader pursed her lips and took the jar, "I'll get you my records as soon as possible," she muttered before shuffling off the adjoined room to fill it.

Lily fell backwards onto the bed of her chambers in the headquarters fairly late that night. It had been a day of endless meetings, reports, and planning. In some ways the reveal of her identity to her aides and being subject to Rakshata's ministrations had been the least of it. For one thing, she'd had to deal with the revelation that Tamaki had apparently almost executed to student council at Ashford, and only been stopped by Suzaku. It felt distinctly odd to feel grateful to Suzaku Kururugi of all people right now. Exhausting really. She'd had Tamaki and those who'd been with him during the incident jailed under suspicion of intent to murder non-combatants.

In truth though, she'd probably ultimately let him off. Not because she doubted he was guilty, there was no doubt he was, but for a few simple other reasons. For one thing, there were plenty of others who'd actually succeeded in killing non-combatants (including herself) to deal with first. For another, it'd rile the rank and file to execute a well liked officer for trying to do away with well off Britannians, particularly ones who had apparently aided in releasing the Lancelot. The neatest way to deal with him would probably be to officially clear him while also transferring him somewhere unimportant. Never needing to waste a thought on Tamaki again would be nice.

The same couldn't be done with the Lancelot unfortunately. It had been withdrawn with the other Britannian forces as part of the ceasefire. Apparently, and unsurprisingly, Suzaku had resisted this quite viciously and had to be talked down by Schneizel personally. The knightmare and its pilot had been removed from the country aboard the Avalon itself. Suzaku the Knightmare pilot and Suzaku the man would live to haunt her another day. That thought made her stomach churn for innumerable reasons.

Speaking of stomach churning, there was the matter of Nina. Apparently she'd tried to blow up the entire settlement with some sort of experimental bomb she'd built in the basement of the school. That was certainly impressive in a certain sense, but nonetheless required that Lily had the Black Knights who'd detained her move her to quarters that, while more comfortable than the jail cell she'd apparently been sitting in since the battle ended, were far more secure. Afterwards, Lily had issued the order that Nina's dorm and lab both be turned upside down. Every computer, notebook, flash drive, and the Ganymede itself (mounted with Nina's failed bomb attempt) had all been confiscated and placed in the care of Rakshata's engineers. More likely than not, depending on Rakshata's ultimate findings, it'd all have to be destroyed. A single bomb wiping out a city was one Pandora's Box the ex-royal was fairly certain she never wanted to open.

Nina's imprisonment left one major task in front of Lily before she could at last surrender to sleep. Fishing around in her nightstand's drawer, she pulled out the personal cell that had been turned off ever since Suzaku called her before the invasion of Tokyo commenced. Unsurprisingly, the thing promptly blew up with missed texts, voicemalls, and push notifications the second she turned it on. She took a few minutes clearing out the drek the alert algorithm though she needed to see, then focused on actual contact attempts. Every one of them was from various student council members, trying to ascertain her status, trying to tell her about Nunnally, expressing every possible emotion from terror to frustration at their Vice President's long, unexplained absence. Even the ever unflappable Milly was obviously upset.

Liliana took a deep breath and put a call in to her oldest friend.

Milly Ashford looked a mess. The past 2 days had been the worst of her life. The city she'd lived in had been ravaged. Her grandfather's beloved school had been temporarily turned into a military encampment. She had nearly been shot. Soldiers reentered the school multiple times to raid for supplies, confiscate property, or run searches which they usually didn't care to explain. Many students had fled the country without the warning, had family members die (or died themselves), or just disappeared, variously before, after, or during the battle. Two of the missing students were those she considered her precious younger sisters, one of them a blind middle schooler in a wheelchair. She and her grandfather had been running themselves ragged trying to account for absolutely every single student under their charge, but most especially those two.

So it was an immense surprise to her that, lying in bed late at night and unable to sleep, she suddenly got a call. Rolling her exhausted body over and checking the phone, she saw the caller's name and was suddenly wide awake, accepting the call with frantic energy. "LILY? LILY WHERE ARE YOU, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" she cried.

A voice, clearly as drained of energy as she was if not more, but still as familiar to her as her own, responded, "Milly, it's... good to hear your voice." Lily seemed unsure how to start whatever this conversation was going to be.

"Lily listen, you got our messages right? You know that-"

"Yes, I know. I... can't say for sure where Nunnally is, but I've got reason to think she was taken back to the Homeland."

Milly wasn't sure what she expected to hear, but it sure wasn't that, "The Homeland? What? The school was overrun by the Black Knights, how would-"

"I know the Black Knights don't have her, because I've been working with the Black Knights." Milly's blood ran cold. She deeply wanted to deny what she'd just heard, but it made sense. After all, another Student Council member turned out to be a Black Knight pilot, why not an informant, or strategist, or whatever Lily was actually doing? She certainly hated the government enough. Whatever her specific role, her surrogate sister took Milly's stunned silence as a sign to continue. "I can't say how I suspect Nunnally's been taken, but I can tell you about Nina."

That had been another weight crushing Milly. "Where is she? The soldiers took her away after whatever her stunt with the Ganymede."

"She's safe. My position doesn't have absolute authority or anything, but I've got enough to make sure she's comfortable for now and moved to psychiatric care as soon as possible. I'll have someone let you know where she's admitted so you can visit her."

Milly hesitated at that last part, "...what do you mean you'll 'have someone let me know?' Why not just you?" She was fairly certain she knew the answer.

"...I'm sorry Milly. I... I think this is going to be the last time we talk. At least for a very long time. Tell the Headmaster I'm eternally grateful for his hospi-"

"SHUT UP!" She wasn't... she wasn't going to **take this**. "You... after everything, you're just going to LEAVE? And talk about never seeing us again!?" Milly Ashford didn't cry often, but she was certainly crying now. "How... how DARE you? You disappear for ages, then Nunnally does too, and suddenly you just call up with all the answers, announce you're part of the army that TOOK OVER THIS SCHOOL and... and do you know they almost shot us? That there's still missing students? All the elementary and middle schoolers are accounted for, but-"

Lily's voice cut through, steady and even. "I'm aware of what happened yet. Those who attacked up were already arrested by our MPs. I haven't seen the missing student list myself, but I know the Headmaster... I know Grandpa Reuben submitted them to our search and rescue operation. As for leaving..." exhaustion, stress, and emotion finally broke the damn, and Milly could hear sobs. "Milly... you're more of a sister to me than anyone but Nunnally. I... I have to find her, and Euphemia, and I have responsibilities helping run a COUNTRY, and... I just don't want you to get any hopes up. I can't predict the future."

The older girl's fury and frustration subsided, and was replaced by... even she wasn't sure. "I still can't believe the Euphie thing either... but I'll tell you this: the Lily I know wouldn't talk about predicting the future. She'd simply say she intends to come back to her cute big sister with her cute little sister, make a plan, and make it so." That got a small titter from the other end of the line. "So, fine, sure, you're helping some crazy guy in a mask go to war with the world or whatever. You'll get through it, and then you, Kallen, and Nunnally are going to get your butts back here and finish your education, you hear me young lady?"

Lily coughed a bit, playing with the Haro charm on her phone, "...yes well, as to that. Of course I'm going to bring Nunnally back. I can't speak for Kallen but as for me I'll have to go without the education. Putting aside that I am, essentially, a fully employed bureaucrat already, I... do you remember your wine party 2 months back?"

_Oh. OH._ "...How could I forget? I could practically SMELL the shame coming off your prudish little self the next morning. Couldn't ever pin down who your dance partner ended up being. Something you want to say about it?"

_Milly you don't know half of the shame_, Lily thought briefly, before compartmentalizing it and shoving it away to focus on the now. "...I don't know about a boy, but for a girl I think Maria would be good, don't you?"

Lily could practically hear her friend and sister beaming through the line, "_Perfect._"

The two girls talked for awhile after that, but Lily finally hung up and prepared to go to sleep, noting it was already nearly 1:00am. No sooner did her head hit the pillow than a knock came at her door. _If it were an emergency, my communicator would be going off_, Lily thought, irritably covering her head with a pillow.

"Zero, it's me," came a voice that was unmistakably Kallen's.

_Oh god damn it I'm NOT ready for this conversation_, but all the same she moved her shield pillow, put in her Geass sealing contact, and replied, not even bothering reaching for her voice changer as she hit the unlock switch by the bed that kept people from just barging into a G1's commander quarters, "Come in." The Ace of the Black Knights came in through the sliding door, which immediately shut behind her and locked again. A bit more fiddling with the bedside control panel gave the room enough light to accommodate Kallen, but dim enough light that Lily wouldn't want to die. "What do you need?"

The redhead shuffled her feet a bit, then sat down on the bed by Lily's legs, "I... we need to talk. About Zero. About you."

"Is this about your crush on Zero?"

"Wh-HOW DID YO-"

"Because I was born with EYES, Kallen." Lily said, irritation plain.

"W-well it's not just that." The hesitance here wasn't like her. "It... well no, first, who...?" unable to finish the sentence, she just pointed at Lily's stomach.

_Yes, REALLY not ready for this conversation, _visibly bristling. "Why's that your business?" she snapped. "All that matters to you is that Britannia is, for the moment, gone, and Zero's not actually real. It's just me, your extremely female classmate whose body is also officially occupied." She turned onto her side, facing toward the wall and away from Kallen. "That's the extent of our relationship, isn't it?"

She wasn't looking at Kallen anymore, but she heard the other girl gulp, inhale deeply, and then, "doesithavetobe?"

Lily looked back over her shoulder, seeing Kallen now pointedly looking away from her. "...What di-"

"You heard me."

Lily laid back down and processed that for a moment. "...I'm too exhausted to answer that question properly. Hell, you're too exhausted to ask it properly." She reached behind her and hit the unlock again, "Go get some rest, Q-1. It's an order." Kallen gave no verbal response, but she heard the other girl get up and start for the door. Kallen was almost out when Lily added, "Kallen... there's too much work right now, in the aftermath of the fight... but I want to have this conversation again, when we can... alright?"

She still wasn't looking, but the "Okay," she got in response, sounded just a bit hopeful.


	4. Chapter 4

While Lily did manage to actually get a full 8 hours in for the first time in quite awhile, the next morning still began with the now all too familiar ritual of worshipping at the porcelain throne. She had to admit, as inconvenient as obviously showing was going to be, it might just be worth it to not intermittently just feel like she was dying.

"Ah, some tea to settle the stomach will be in order it seems, Lady Lily?" came a voice from the bathroom doorway, nearly giving the young woman a heart attack. Whirling around (And in doing so adding to the agonizing churning), she saw Sayoko standing there, in her usual maid ensemble, as if nothing was unusual.

"How did you even get-" _in here_, she would have finished, had she not hastily covered her mouth and turned back to the toilet. As she expelled what little remained within her, she felt Sayoko's own hands as the maid quietly gathered her hair and held it well out of harm's way.

"I have my ways, milady," the ninja replied, unhelpfully, to the unfinished question. "After all, the clan long ago dealt with the need to access closed rooms. We're bodyguards and assassins. It would hardly do for us to be stopped by locks. Is there a particular kind of tea you'd fancy?" Her mistress simply gave a few dry heaves in response, "Hm, I suppose I'll just pick something myself then. I know a fair few that should help." Lily managed to groan out something about morning reports. Sayoko examined her for a moment, then asked, "I'll let it be know, to anyone relevant, that'll you'll be handling business remotely for today, shall I?" A vague groan of assent was made and, after confirming her charge had mostly gotten it out of her system, Sayoko released the held hair and vanished.

"Got... to figure out... how she does that," Lily wheezed as she righted herself. She stumbled out of the bathroom and made her way over to her desk, taking a seat and accessing her terminal. As she accessed a few report logs that were already waiting for her in the system. None of it was overwhelmingly noteworthy, merely updates on the routine reconstruction work that would likely go on 24/7 for weeks at least, as well as some communiques from associated rebel groups throughout the country.

With a rested mind, even with a shaken body, Lily found herself free to go over all current objectives, before she bothered to try and contact anyone. First, the short term goals.

Obviously, the matter of Ougi needed to be dealt with. While it wasn't clear at the moment when he'd be okay to come off sedatives, the second he was able to she would need to question him fully of whatever this bizarre business with Villetta Nu was. The questioning might even need to be done with Geass, depending on how cooperative he was. The image of her easily pliable, everyman second in command and Jeremiah Gottwald's constant tagalong (not to mention one of her very first Geass victims) having some sort of secret domestic life together was baffling on many levels.

Speaking of Jeremiah, that was another thing Lily needed more information on. The man was, as far as anyone knew, wiped out along with the dregs of his faction at Narita itself, fighting Kallen. Now suddenly he reappears, as a raving man _cyborg_ of all things, piloting a strange machine much larger than even the titanic Gawain. Assuming there was any amount of lucidity left in him, questioning him could be valuable. If not, well, Gottwald's record didn't exactly inspire guilt over letting Rakshata's team 'recycle' him for research data. Hopefully his Knightmare wasn't something that could only be piloted with his enhancements, it'd be useful if rebuilt.

Lily almost chided herself for considering the matter of Kallen a short term concern, but clearly Lily's personal life was going to continue insisting on inserting itself into matters of business, so it was probably best to sit down and talk things over with her Ace Pilot and... whatever else they were to one another, as soon as possible. Mainly to sort out that second part.

On the matter of her personal relationships, the other major immediate concern for Lily was her missing dear, elder sister. Assuming Cornelia had not been crushed by rubble at some point, the former Viceroy of Area 11 and Chief General of the Imperial Army was probably still in the city somewhere. The Black Knights controlled all access into Tokyo at the moment, but that was still a massive area for her to hide in, and Lily had no doubt that Cornelia was smart enough to hide very well if she wanted to. Ceasefire or not, capturing her would still be highly useful. Technically, of course, that ceasefire precluded taking any POWs who hadn't already been captured at the time of the agreement, but it's not like Lily had any reason to believe Schneizel hadn't bent the rules.

Switching the long term goals, there was Lily's other missing sister. According to C.C, the most likely culprit in Nunnally's abduction was ANOTHER immortal, called V.V, who worked for Britannia. To say that the ex-princess was livid over C.C's secret keeping was the understatement of the century, but she was keenly aware there was nothing she could do to make the witch talk if she didn't want to. As it stood, the revelation that this V.V apparently ran some secret Britannian Geass research society (though she was uncertain where it was now) was perhaps the most information C.C had opened up with in the entirety of the time they'd... cooperated? Could one really even call it that? In any case, C.C believed that Nunnally had likely already been surreptitiously smuggled out of the country and back to the homeland. This meant that there'd be no way to get to her without a Pendragon insider under Lily's control or a sufficient counterweight to Britannia's own power.

It also meant that the issue of Zero's identity was very much in question. Clearly it was known to someone, possibly someone as high up as the Emperor himself, or else why bother kidnapping Nunnally? On the other hand, Schneizel had given no indication whatsoever that he was aware (not, granted, that her brother was exactly easy to read), and he was supposedly the second most powerful man in the Empire. There had been no public revelation of Zero's identity to undermine the Black Knights, no private communication to try and use Nunnally to pressure her sister, just silence. It had only been two days granted, but it still raised quite a few questions. At any rate, Lily would have to operate under the assumption that she was compromised to at least some and that she could be unmasked at any time.

She'd also have to operate assuming that other hostile Geass users would now be a factor. After all, she'd been targeted by another immortal, and that immortal runs a Britannian research facility. That there would be other contracted individuals at this 'Geass Directorate' went without saying. She would need some other defense besides her own Geass and C.C's immunity if she could, at any time, be targeted by another Mao (one with a clear mind and less personal goal). This led her to consider a most unpleasant option: revealing the existence of Geass to her inner circle, and convince C.C to make contracts with them. This, of course, assumed that Lily had the slightest ability to get C.C to do that (or indeed that C.C even could, Lily wasn't sure that the witch could just grant the power to whomever she wished), to say nothing of the overwhelming danger posed by coming so close to the truth behind the SAZ massacre. Still, it was something she would have to consider, at least after talking with C.C.

As for countering Britannia's more temporal might, that's what Kaguya's current assignment was about. Of course the diplomatic formalities of getting official recognition from the other superpowers or from neutral states mattered on paper, but the truly important thing was simply being able to arrange a face-to-face meeting with the Chinese Federation's High Eunuchs. If that condition could be cleared, Lily would immediately go from being leader of a torn up, unsteady breakaway state, to the de facto ruler of nearly the whole of South and East Asia. From there any number of goals could be more or less immediately dealt with. Of course, greedy as the Eunuchs famously were, it wouldn't be as easy as that. For one thing, they likely weren't about to forget the Black Knight's involvement in halting their annexation of Kyushu, even if she dangled the bait that was the entirety of Japan in front of them. For another, in order for this to work she'd have to get all of them, which was going to be a bit of logistical needle threading, and since there was no way they'd come to Japan as a group, that would mean securing a personal invitation to Luoyang and then actually going herself. She'd need to get that done quickly too, or else the Chinese would probably wonder why the Man of Miracles was sporting a baby bump. Well, one supposes she could go with C.C and pretend to be Zero's mistress and/or aide, but she'd rather not show her face at all, and that method would make it difficult to stay for closed door meetings.

Finally, whatever occurred on the mainland across the straits, or whatever was being schemed in the Homeland across the Pacific, the threat of Schneizel loomed over Japan from Manilla. Even if he didn't know about Geass, even if he didn't know who Zero was, and even if he was theoretically bound by their ceasefire agreement for a month, the fact remained that he held command over the largest Britannian force in Asia, and that force would be growing every day as different groups of the Area 11 Colonial Force joined with their Chancellor and compatriots in Area 12. Lily was also sure Schneizel would be taking what main army forces he could from the Atlantic front, possibly including some Rounds members, and adding them to his strength. After all, without the bottomless supply of Japanese Sakuradite, the EU war would quickly turn quite a bit harsher for Pendragon. Lily had had quite enough problems when the worst enemies she would face were Cornelia and Suzaku. The idea of Bismarck Waldstein, as directed by Schneizel, taking to the field against her forces as they were was a scenario with precious few chances of success.

An alert chimed on the terminal, waking Japan's ruler from her reverie. Opening it brought up the decidedly concerned face of one Kaguya Sumeragi. "Lady Kaguya," Lily's brows knitted together, "Is something amiss? Problems with the Chinese?"

The youngest of Kyoto House's members shook her head, biting her lip, "No, not the Chinese. Britannia."

Lily's eyes widened, "Schneizel? He's breaking the agreement already?" _Damn it all, I should never hav-_

"N-no, Lord Zero. You misunderstand. This isn't coming from Manilla, it's not from Schneizel. It's from Pendragon... The Emperor wants to agree to a full armistice."

...

Kallen Kouzuki had never been so confused in her entire life. She'd been more depressed, more angry, more excited, and to be sure, all of those emotions were mixed in there, but never as outright _confused_.

The source of the confusion was, of course, one Liliana vi Britannia. In fact, part of the confusion was that she WAS Liliana vi Britannia. That, it turned out, was the connective tissue between her odd classmate, a beautiful woman who could change wildly from the Student Council's Ice Queen to a doting elder sister or fiercely protective friend at the drop of a head, and the masked terrorist who took the world, and Kallen herself, by storm.

Kallen's interest in Zero was obvious: he was a seemingly insane magician who'd come out of nowhere, saved the lives of herself and her friends, repeatedly humiliated the empire that oppressed her people, and eventually led them all to triumph, hoisting the Red Sun over Tokyo for the first time in nearly a decade. It was difficult to fall in love with someone who was more an amalgamation of ideas and theatrics than a clear individual, but she'd certainly felt something _like_ love.

Liliana Lamperouge was a more personal relationship, less idealized love and admiration and more heightened teen emotion. At first Kallen had dismissed her as she had everyone else in the academy, as a typical stuck up Britannian brat. This had proven... partially untrue. While there was absolutely no question Lily was stuck up, she wasn't just some puffed up noble's heir riding on her bloodline. She was an extremely intelligent young woman, the height of grace and poise, and while preferring a certain level of distance from everyone, was obviously fiercely protective of the other council members, her sister, and even the students themselves. Seeing her fawn over Nunnally and Shirley, laugh with Suzaku and Rivalz, aide Nina with work, and get pushed around by Milly all made her usual haughtiness seem more like a cute affectation... partially.

The revelation of her royalty made a lot of things slot into place. Of course Lily was withdrawn, she was attempting to shield her baby sister from a life they'd barely escaped from alive. Of course she was protective, possessive even, of those friends of hers, she'd had so much stripped away from her. Of course could be such a cynic, of course she always seemed like she wasn't quite telling you everything... and of course she'd tried to keep Kallen quiet about Shinjuku. Her unmasking similarly made many things make sense, of course Zero never personally mingled much, of course Zero cared about Japanese and Britannians equally, of course 'he' was so clearly obsessed with clothing and decoration.

One thing that absolutely wasn't obviated was the matter of her child. That involved letting down quite a lot of walls and skipping a fair bit of preparation, neither of which matched anything she knew of any of the 3 personas. Nevermind the question of specific parentage (Rivaliz? Suzaku? Someone else), the idea of Liliana vi Britannia, Liliana Lamperouge, or Zero Man of Miracles very literally letting someone in was near incomprehensible... but reality was reality and Kallen had been forced to process that and more.

Firstly, the reduction over Zero to mortal status. That wasn't really that much of a shock, obviously under the cape and mask and all the other ridiculousness was still a human like anyone else. But second, that is was a GIRL who Kallen had apparently been crushing on did not change as much as she'd have previously thought. In fact, that it was her ever mysterious, absurdly pretty classmate REALLY didn't change as much as she'd have thought it would. Even Lily being pregnant didn't seem to change how she was feeling and, well, if that didn't stop her, why should anything else? So she'd mustered up the courage, downed a bit of booze from Tamaki's currently vacant and unlocked room, and taken the plunge.

With a clearer head on her shoulders the next day, Kallen realized immediately asking about the father had been the absolute rudest way to open the conversation, and she was quite lucky that didn't sink the entire operation right there. She'd been worried when Lily initially dismissed the whole thing, but while 'we'll talk about it later' wasn't exactly the yes she'd hoped for

well

it was a pretty good start.


	5. Chapter 5

It was the first, and hopefully last, time Cornelia felt grateful to Nonette for putting her through so much stealth and survival training, despite her younger self insisting it was a waste of time considering her position and the ways of modern warfare. Now, squatting in a bombed out building in the middle of enemy territory, it was the only thing keeping her from being locked up in the deepest hole that he apparently mad younger sister could find. Then she'd be kept there until either she could be pawned off for something... or the Homeland would refuse to ransom her, and Liliana would add to her fratricide count.

Liliana. Lily. It was LILY who killed Clovis. It was LILY who killed Euphie. That her sister would raise the flag of rebellion was not, in itself, that surprising in the grand scheme. She would hardly be the first rebel royal, or even the first to take up arms for revenge rather than usurpation. But those she had killed...

Cornelia could remember being 11, and holding a pair of pink and black haired infants, though the latter was larger from a year of growth. Being 13, and seeing those two as toddlers coo over a brown haired baby in the arms of a woman with flowing black locks. She could remember 3 little girls lined up in a row, watching the woman teach Cornelia how to fence. She could remember being 16 and watching Clovis trying to act as if he was far too high class to be irritated about losing at chess over and over to 6 year old. And she could remember being 19, managing to corner her father and Lord Waldstein on their own, begging him to let her take Lily and Nunnally in lieu of exiling them, only to be reminded that she was in no position to ask anything as Marianne's failed Captain of the Guard, and to never try and countermand a decision of his again.

She was never exactly the nurturing type, but she had comforted her sisters on many occasions. Clovis, much as he pretended at being aloof, spoiled them rotten with gifts and was at the Aries Palace nearly as often as her, even when she was literally given the job of being there. Euphemia and Liliana were joined at the hip, with Nunnally always attached to one or both of their skirts.

The size of the imperial family and the often hostile relations between consorts meant all but full blooded siblings were friendly acquaintances at best, bitter enemies at worst. But she, naively, had thought their group of 5 truly bound together. Laughable sentiment from a woman called The Witch of Britannia, under whose feet nations crumbled. Marianne had brought them together, and then Marianne had died. Nunnally might be dead too, perhaps that was the reason for Lily's insanity. Clovis had made himself the high king of cronyism, and may have died for that, or from some other perceived crime, but certainly at the hands of his own sister.

She could not even bring herself to think of Euphemia.

Cornelia opened one of the water bottles she'd looted from an abandoned convenience store, mildly thankful that at least she was scraping by in a city rather than the jungle, even if it meant constantly avoiding enemies. She winced a bit, her wounds from when the Gawain brought her down bandaged but still healing.

_Lady Marianne... this world has naught but misery in it since you left it_.

Idly, she wondered if any of the Glaston Knights had survived, for assuredly their father had not, killed by Lily after firing on Cornelia herself, another entirely inexplicable turn of events for the mountainous pile. The same question, though much more painful, hung over the fate of Guilford. All she knew, from eavesdropping on people, was that Schneizel had negotiated a ceasefire (apparently to last a month) and the withdrawal of Britannian forces from the soil of the so-called 'Japanese Free State.' Doubtless he had some follow-up plan, and equally doubtless, Cornelia herself would not be allowed to take advantage of the negotiated withdrawal, letter or spirit of the agreement be damned.

No, unfortunately, all the Supreme Commander of the greatest military power on the planet could do was squat in rubble, trapped in a city where terrorists controlled all exits, and wait.

...

Liliana could barely breathe, and wasn't sure how much of it was sickness, anger, or even what remained of the long forgotten fear. Here she was, alone in a room at the heart of her power, yet she could still feel, on some level, the same fear instilled on her by that man on the day of her exile.

Hopefully as this conversation continued her anger would take the forefront. In any case, it was all kept safely within Zero's mask. In front of her the terminal screen displayed a secure conference line, one side of the screen dominated by the uncharacteristically serious face of Kaguya Sumeragi, the other that of Charles Zi Britannia himself, ruler of one third of the world. "Is this all?" The latter asked, either genuinely bored or managing an incredibly convincing front of it. It helped strengthen the aforementioned anger in Lily either way. "One costumed theater manager and one little girl, to deal with a monarch?"

Whatever Lily may have felt, Zero's emotions were a carefully managed thing. "Lady Kaguya is second ranked amongst those of the Six Houses and Foreign Minister of the Japanese Free State. I, of course, am he who has toppled your local administration and broken your armies. Who else is needed to deal with one such as you?" The rebel leader replied, 'his' words delivered with an almost absolute calm, mixed with just the right amount of smugness.

Lily watched the Emperor lean back a bit in the office chair he was seated in, showing no particular sign this response bothered him. "Do as you will then. You have been told the reason for this conversation?"

"I have been told yes, but you cannot possibly expect me, or anyone else, to believe. Terminus does not grant permission to move his borders so easily. The Chancellor gathers his strength less than 1000 miles from Okinawa as the ceasefire ticks away one day at a time, what possible reason could you, of all people, have for offering a full armistice? Further, Britannia is not known for her devotion to diplomatic niceties, what reason have we to even believe the ceasefire will hold?"

The enormous man on the other end merely snorted, "Schneizel does as he will, usually. In this instance however, I have already directed him to disband most of the forces fleeing to him, and send the rest to other fronts. As to why, my motivations are my own, why should I give them to you?"

"If we have no cause to believe your words, Your Majesty," Kaguya interjected, "then this conversation is devoid of meaning."

"You are not known as one who enjoys wasting his time."

Charles, somewhat surprisingly to Lily, actually allowed himself an audible sigh, "A world of naught but children. Very well, as for motivation it is quite simple: you all have made yourselves more of a nuisance to suppress and reconquer than simply release. Is that not the goal of an independence movement? A form of congratulations are in order, I suppose. As for tokens of good faith," he appeared to mull this notion over for a minute, then cleared his throat before thrust his left hand out in a gesture of command, "I, Charles Zi Britannia, Emperor of Britannia, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Duke of Virginia, Defender of the Faithful, and Shield of the Realm, hereby declare a state of armistice between the Holy Britannian Empire and the entity known as the Japanese Free State, in preparations for formal negotiations of peace." A beat passed, then he settled back into his chair, "You can broadcast that on whatever channels you control, pass it to the EU and Chinese Federation, do whatever you care to to publicize it. True we have ignored the backroom dithering of diplomats before, but directly breaking the word of the monarch is another matter, yes?"

Beneath the mask, Lily's eyes simply narrowed, it wasn't much, but it was something. However, "You have yet to clarify your price of this utterly unprecedented generosity."

This time, the Emperor outright snorted and waved a hand dismissively, "Schneizel will contact you later. You may haggle like fishwives with him, I have more important concerns. So long as we still get Sakuradite I don't care."

Kaguya outright scowled, "All the bloodshed to this point, and you simply toss it all aside? You treat our country and your soldiers alike as nothing?"

"That is what it means to be a ruler," he replied, unfazed.

"Lord Zero knows more of what it is to be a ruler than you ever shall, I believe."

"Ah yes, 'Lord' Zero, that does remind me," Charles said, dismissing Kaguya and refocusing on Zero, "Liliana," the blood of the Japanese side's negotiators froze in their veins, "I admit you have surpassed expectations, managing to beat your sisters with this rabble. Obviously you are, pointlessly, attached to that sad collection of rocks in the sea, but nonetheless, you _will_ turn over a copy of the birth records to us when the time comes." An outright smirk appeared on his face, "The Ministry of the Imperial Household is quite obsessed with keeping such things in order."

The communication was cut on Pendragon's side without another word.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey just a heads up for anyone who cares: I'm tired of dealing with 's limited formatting and annoying doc manager feature in 2019. So if you want to follow my stuff just go to my AO3 page from now on (there's a 6th black Lily update that just went up over there, plus a new geass thing)

archiveofourown users/Rodyle/works

Obviously eats the link but you get the idea.


	7. Update

So I'm still not going to bother futzing with 's broken feature set and formatting, especially now that I don't have a computer having moved across the planet to China. This is just a general announcement that more chapters of Black Lily have been posted to AO3, along with my AO3/Spacebattles exclusive fics Prince of Peace (Geass) and Grey Feather (FSN/Sekirei). I will also look into updating some other exclusive uploads over there, like Blonde on Black (Soul Nomad/Naruto), but nothing yet.

Just check out Rodyle on AO3.


End file.
